English Dub Review: Tokyo 24th Ward: “Under the Green Flower”

Overview: Shu (Billy Kametz) does what he can to rally Koki (Landon McDonald) and Ran (Zeno Robinson) together after their emotional fallout. 

Our Take: The aftermath of Kunai’s death has ripples that begin to build the rift between that of RGB in the dying message he left before his death that reveals the injustice done to him to all of Tokyo. 

Shuta was left out of most of the ordeal, so this is an effective and quick way of having him, Mari and the rest of 24th ward to play catch up. However, it serves a much greater purpose in showing how caught up in the middle he is in between that of Koki and Ran’s conflict. Shu’s raw anger and how they are  beginning to evolve as people and drifting apart as result is an excellent display of how simply good natured he is at heart along with him trying to bring them back together. It also gets to the relatable core root of the inevitable change we all go through, for better or worse. 

Ran’s skepticism of Koki’s dogged compliance to the government allows a segway into their dueling ideologies that is engaging throughout. Ran, who is willing to bend the rules to provide for himself and others, and Koki, who is on the straight and narrow along with being compliant to laws set forth, is tackled through their childhood experiences. Koki’s mother is finally revealed along with how crucial her influence was, along with Koki’s understanding of Ran’s reasoning in his actions, to show that justice is not as simple as black and white. Even more interesting is the result Koki comes to in conceding that Ran’s way of helping is understandable but not right in the long run, fully exploring different avenues of thought process regarding ethics while also creating a compelling inner strife for Koki moving forward as he grapples with whether or not he made the right decision.  

Things become even more complicated when Koki’s father and SARG are playing PR clean-up, in turn, also unveiling a new version of Hazard Cast that will decide whether or not to fully be implemented due to a city wide referendum, needing more personal data as well. This is a riveting point of conflict for the city as Shu, Mari, their families and other citizens wrestle with its safety and trustworthiness. Even more shocking is the dark turn in how the new crime detection system, KANAE system, named after Koki’s mother, is powered by Asumi’s deceased brain based on her kind heart and thought process. This along with his strife with his internal compass makes for a harsh challenge for Koki. With the old building that RGB saved being demolished and Koki selling out Ran to SARG, it is a visceral visual representation of just how things are indeed changing.